Switching sides - visiting Ghent, the great rival!

We heard on our Bruges walking tour how there has been a centuries' long rivalry between Bruges and Ghent. Both wildly successful centres of commerce in the Middle Ages, there have been spats for as long as people have cared to remember, although these days it is more  playful teasing than wars and pillage. The two cities are very close so we only have a 25 minute train journey after breakfast to reach Ghent. 

Walking out of the train station we can immediately feel that Ghent is an entirely different city. There is the grubby modern-ness that characterises all big cities... concrete, tramlines, cars, and a confusing array of signs and noise. We walk along the main road for 600m to the Hamptons B+B and feel infinitely relieved once we step through the main door into a beautifully furnished and quiet hallway. Our accommodation host has already kindly prepared our room, knowing that we'd be early, and so we drop off our bags and head back out.

We follow Mike's suggestion and walk straight to the STAM museum. Housed in an old hospital, it is a good place to start as there is a permanent exhibition charting the history of Ghent. 

STAM museum

We are disappointed to find the cafe closed for lunch so after our museum visit we make the most of our newly purchased city passes and jump on the tram to the historic centre. A quick lunch later and we walk to the Ghent Belfort. Sitting proudly atop this belfry is a newly restored golden dragon... If our Bruges tour guide is correct, it is the same gold dragon that was pinched from Bruges by a raiding party centuries ago. So it is still a bit of a sore point apparently... 

Ghent Belfort (with dragon on top)

Happily this belfry has an elevator and so we take the lift up to the viewing platform. Somehow there isn't the same feeling of accomplishment at the top as if we'd walked up, but the views are still rewarding.

No trip to Ghent is complete without a visit to St Bavo's Cathedral (Sint-Baafskathedraal) so that is our next stop. The high vaulted ceilings are breathtaking, but then we also explore the hidden world of the crypts beneath the main chapels. Here we walk around a display of church treasures ... reliquaries, communion paraphernalia, richly brocaded vestments - all golden and bejewelled. And then it's a fleeting glimpse of Ghent's most famous treasure - the Ghent altarpiece. In a darkened room, behind ceiling-high glass, is the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, the multi-panelled masterpiece painted by the van Eyck brothers in the 15th Century. It is impossible to get a close look as the crowd of audio-guide zombies pressed up against the glass is at least 3-people deep. But at least we can say we have seen it and therefore 'done' Ghent... 

St Bavo's Cathedral 

Inside St Bavo's Cathedral

Back outside in the afternoon sunshine, we make our way towards Graslei, along the banks of the main canal. Having lugged summer clothing halfway around the world, we actually haven't had a chance to wear it. The UK was cool and we escaped the heatwave of a fortnight ago which pushed temperatures in Bruges up to 38 degrees. So it is quite nice to be able to wear a T-shirt today... although as we sit by the canal waiting for our boat trip to begin, we think how useful it would have been to have our hats on our heads rather than in our suitcases back at the B+B...  

Statue honouring Hubert and Jan van Eyck

We missed the chance to do a canal boat trip in Bruges so we make the most of our city pass and join an English-speaking tour. We board a motor boat with a guide and 10 other people. There is a slight gasp when a very portly couple get on the boat and both decide to sit on the same side... at which point the boat tips dangerously close to the waterline. We are saved by a couple of chivalrous men who quickly move to the other side to try and balance things out. Our guide is humorous and knowledgeable and demonstrates that Bruges-Ghent rivalry is alive and well by slamming Bruges as 'Euro-Disney for adults' while talking up his own city's cultural and historic prowess. 

 

Views from the water - Ghent from the canal

It is a completely different experience seeing the city from the water and it is infinitely  more enjoyable motoring along at a slow pace removed from the crowds and traffic. At the end of the tour, our guide catches sight of my T-shirt and comments that he loves Australia... as evidenced by the tattoo of Tasmania that he proudly shows off on his left calf. Now that's devotion.

We rejoin the crowds and make our way on foot to the Gravensteen. The 12th century castle is where the Dukes of Flanders used to reside but it is now the home of the Museum of Medieval Torture Instruments (seriously). That's not really our thing so we don't go inside. Instead we walk along the Oudberg but it is still too early for an evening meal and the restaurants are not yet open. 

Gravensteen

Along the canal

We have been walking for over six hours and feel like we've given Ghent a very good go so we make our way back to the tram stop. Memories of our commute on the London Tube come flooding back as we are crammed in like sardines. The tram carriages are impossibly full and we need to fight our way out or risk missing our stop. Back in our neighbourhood, we stop  at an organic foods store and buy some food for our evening meal. We step back inside our B+B and once again peace descends as soon as we walk over the threshold.

Our first and last evening in Ghent is spent in the quiet back garden of our accommodation, hungrily tucking into our food while a church bell chimes in the distance and the light starts to fade. 

An urban oasis